Aging: Growing Older Is Found to Hurt Decision Making

[29 January 2008 - New York Times] For the especially unscrupulous con artist, the elderly are a tempting target. Now researchers have confirmed in the lab what frauds already knew instinctively: as they grow older, even people who seem perfectly on top of things may have trouble making good decisions. The researchers based their findings on a series of tests given to two groups of healthy people, one ages 26 to 55, the other 56 to 85. The goal was to see how well the older volunteers used the skills often demanded of them when making decisions in real life about activities like investments, insurance and estate planning. “Such decisions would be a challenge even for young adults,” the researchers note in the current Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. But when age is taken into account, they said, along with the abundance of shady marketing schemes, the challenge becomes even greater. More

What makes you happy? These seniors know

[24 January 2008 - Wicked Local - Cambridge] The seniors at Cadbury Commons now have a new skill to master: laughing out loud for one minute a day — every day. Even if there’s nothing at all to laugh about. Last week, retired psychology professor Freda Rebelsky stopped by the independent and assisted-living facility to educate the residents about how to be happier. The pursuit of happiness is not a new concept, considering it’s written into the Declaration of Independence. But positive psychology is a relatively new field that looks at what makes people happy, instead of what ails them. More

The New Recruits: Older Workers

[16 January 2008 - CEOs for Cities] We've been warning of the impact of boomer retirements. Now that their impact is being felt, employers are developing a new approach -- getting them to stay.The Wall Street Journal reports that companies should take the following steps to keep older workers:

• Offer flexible schedules (with commensurate flexible pay)
• Provide training opportunities
• Feature older people in recruiting material
• Offer competitive health-care benefits
• Train supervisors to manage workers of all ages

Expect to hear more about this issue as boomers continue to age and threaten retirement. More

Wisdom really does increase with age

[7 January 2008 - The Australian] New findings seem to contradict one of the most widely accepted assumptions about ageing: that the human brain is at its most powerful between the ages of 18 and 26. Scientists have discovered that intelligence, instead of peaking in our youth, remains stable and in some respects gets sharper as we grow older. The researchers found that verbal skills continued to increase for at least two decades beyond the age of 20, while arithmetic ability remained constant. Their work suggests that many assumptions made by employers, policymakers and educational institutions about ageing need to be rethought. "Verbal ability appears to keep increasing over time," said Lars Larsen, a psychologist at the University of Aarhus, Denmark, who led the research. More

Dance lesson vouchers planned for the elderly

[13 January 2008 - Guardian Unlimited - UK] Elderly people keen to take up lessons in activities such as art, dancing, computing or sport will be given vouchers to set up their own groups and buy in teachers, under government proposals to be unveiled this week. The plans, which will be published by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills on Tuesday, could signal a shift away from the traditional evening class. Instead, older people would be able to pay experts to give classes to themselves and friends, or to accompany them on visits to museums or on other activities. If a group were keen to learn about cricket, for example, they could hire a professional to teach them about the game and accompany them to a match. More

Don't just stand there, think

[13 January 2008 - Boston Globe] New research suggests that we think not just with our brains, but with our bodies ... When you read something confusing, or work a crossword puzzle, or try to remember where you put your keys, what do you do with your body? Do you sit? Do you stand? Do you pace? Do you do anything with your hands? Do you move your eyes in a particular pattern? How you answer questions like these, it turns out, may determine how long it will take for you to decipher what you're reading, solve your puzzle, or get your keys back. The brain is often envisioned as something like a computer, and the body as its all-purpose tool. But a growing body of new research suggests that something more collaborative is going on - that we think not just with our brains, but with our bodies. A series of studies, the latest published in November, has shown that children can solve math problems better if they are told to use their hands while thinking. Another recent study suggested that stage actors remember their lines better when they are moving. And in one study published last year, subjects asked to move their eyes in a specific pattern while puzzling through a brainteaser were twice as likely to solve it. The term most often used to describe this new model of mind is "embodied cognition," and its champions believe it will open up entire new avenues for understanding - and enhancing - the abilities of the human mind. Some educators see in it a new paradigm for teaching children, one that privileges movement and simulation over reading, writing, and reciting. Specialists in rehabilitative medicine could potentially use the emerging findings to help patients recover lost skills after a stroke or other brain injury. The greatest impact, however, has been in the field of neuroscience itself, where embodied cognition threatens age-old distinctions - not only between brain and body, but between perceiving and thinking, thinking and acting, even between reason and instinct - on which the traditional idea of the mind has been built. More

People listen to world differently

[14 January 2008 - Channel 4 News / PA News] No two people listen to the world in the same way, new research suggests. Every individual's brain is tuned differently to the sound environment, scientists believe. "If you could borrow someone else's ears you would have real difficulty in locating the source of the sounds, at least until your brain had relearned to do it," said study leader Dr Jan Schnupp, from the University of Oxford. More

Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on active ageing

[12 January 2008 - Radio Singapore International] Active ageing is a constant process of adjustment. This according to Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew. He was speaking at a dialogue session on Friday. The session was organized as part of the Silver Industry Conference and Exhibition or SICEX 2008 in Singapore, an event aimed at promoting active ageing. Recalling the turning points that have contributed to his fulfilling life, Mr Lee first spoke about how he changed his lifestyle when he was in his mid 30s. ... If the mindset is that I have reached retirement age at 62, I can't work anymore. I don't have to work, I just sit back. Now is the time I enjoy life. I think they are making the biggest mistakes of their lives. After one month, or after two months, even if you go traveling, with nothing to do, with no purpose in life, you will just degrade. The human being needs a challenge. And my advice to every person in Singapore, and elsewhere, keep yourself interested, have a challenge. If you are not interested in the world, and the world is not interested in you, the biggest punishment a man can ever receive is total isolation in a dungeon. Black, complete withdrawal of all stimuli. If you want to see sun rise tomorrow, or sun set, you must have a reason, you must have a stimuli to keep going. More

Culture Influences Brain Function, Study Shows

[11 January 2008 - ScienceDaily] People from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks, MIT researchers and colleagues report in the first brain imaging study of its kind. Psychological research has established that American culture, which values the individual, emphasizes the independence of objects from their contexts, while East Asian societies emphasize the collective and the contextual interdependence of objects. Behavioral studies have shown that these cultural differences can influence memory and even perception. But are they reflected in brain activity patterns? More

Unlocking the secrets of the aging mind

[8 January 2008 - Star Tribune] Dr. Gene D. Cohen, director of the
Center on Aging, Health and Humanities at George Washington University,
will speak on the aging process and mind power at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at
Ridgedale Library, 12601 Ridgedale Drive, Minnetonka. Cohen's new book,
"The Mature Mind: The Positive Power of the Aging Brain," describes new
research that has shown that as it ages, "the brain is far more flexible
and adaptable than once thought." His program, titled "Age + Experience
= Creativity," is free and part of Hennepin County Library's "55+: Age
Well, Live Smart" series. For more information, call 952-847-8800 or go
to http://www.hclib.org.